Post Practice Summation

Good practice last night! Thank you all for coming. Sorry it went so long, but the next couple probably will as well. There's a lot of stuff to cover.

A couple of points:

1) I added the line-ups for Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Vigil at left, all the way at the bottom. These link to Google Docs, so will always be as up-to-date as possible. For instance, based on my decision last night to ditch Crux Fidelis for Good Friday Communion in favor of Sing My Tongue the Glorious Battle, I have changed that Good Friday sheet. So, yes, of course, the thick packets I gave y'all last night are already out-of-date....

2) After our bit of a struggle last night with the Stabat Mater we had, I did some searching and found the more familiar tune, the one that we always use with the English translation during the Way of the Cross. I have replaced the links and the Youtube video at right to reflect that. I think it will be much easier and better all around. We've got enough other stuff we need to work on. ... But I would ask you to look at the new score [LINK] and listen to the Youtube video [LINK] before this coming Passion Sunday, when we'll use it first -- although we will not be singing it with the "lilt" that is in the video.

3) Incidentally, still no word on the Easter TLM. If we do it, we'll just use the standard psalm tone Propers for everything except the Communio. It so happens that the Easter Sunday full Communio is exactly the same as the one we are learning for Easter Vigil. For hymns, after the Offertorio, Regina Caeli Jubila; after the Communio, O Filii et Filiae. There is also the Easter Sequence before the Gospels. All of that is familiar to most of us. Finally, effective Easter Sunday (hopefully, if not then Low Sunday) we'll be reverting back to Mass VIII De Angelis, at least for a long while. Right now, despite what we've briefly talked about, I'm not terribly inclined to try learning a new Mass Setting. But, just in case we do get an Easter Sunday TLM, I will be posting the various sheets and links as soon as I can.

Again, thank you all. See you Sunday!

Line-up for 02 April: Fifth Sunday in Lent -- Passion Sunday

• Propers: Fifth Sunday in Lent [PDF]
• Mass Parts: Mass XI Orbis Factor
• Kyrie XI [PDF - Youtube - mp3]
• Credo III [PDF - mp3]
• Sanctus XI [PDF - mp3]
• Agnus Dei XI [PDF - mp3]
• Hymn after Offertory: Attende Domine [PDF - Youtube]
• Hymn after Communion: Stabat Mater [PDF - Youtube]
• Recessional: Antiphona ad Sancte Michael [PDF]
• [Subject to change]

PRACTICE TUESDAY 28 MARCH: This will be a big one. We will go over the above, plus a quick intro of next week, Palm Sunday, and run through Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil. We will likely be there longer than usual for the next few weeks, but if you cannot come for the whole time, come for whatever time you can, arriving late, leaving early, whatever. These are important practices!

Fr. Z analyzes the hymn Te Joseph Celebrent

Each Lent, Fr. John Zuhlsdorf posts short "PODCAzT" meditations. In the one posted for today he recycles from 2009 an analysis of the Hymn to St. Joseph that we have been singing after Communion during this month of March, which is dedicated to St. Joseph: [LINK].

Line-up for 26 March, Fourth Sunday of Lent -- "Laetare Sunday"

• Propers: Fourth Sunday of Lent [PDF]
• Mass Parts: Mass XI Orbis Factor
• Kyrie XI [PDF - Youtube - mp3]
• Credo III [PDF - mp3]
• Sanctus XI [PDF - mp3]
• Agnus Dei XI [PDF - mp3]
• Hymn after Offertory: Attende Domine [PDF - Youtube]
• Hymn after Communion: Te Joseph Celebrent [PDF - Youtube]
• Recessional: Antiphona ad Sancte Michael [PDF]
• [Subject to change]

REMEMBER: NO PRACTICE TUESDAY 21 MARCH. Come to the Lenten Mission in the Basilica instead, presented by Fr. Brian Seiler, Tuesday-Thursday nights from 6-7pm.

Why is next Sunday, the Fourth Sunday of Lent, called "Laetare Sunday"?

Cross-posting [LINK].

Monday 20 March: Feast of St. Joseph

As I often say, I'm slow but I get there eventually. Because the Feast of St. Joseph is the 19th of March, and this year is a Sunday, I overlooked it for Monday morning. But it is a Solemnity, so it does not get pre-empted by Sunday, but rather displaced. So we will be celebrating it with chant at the 06:30 Mass. Anyone wanting to get up and join me will be most appreciated.

The line-up is below left or [LINK]. NOTE: Bring Te Joseph Celebrent for Post-Communion.

Sacred Music as Occasion of Grace for Modern Man

"The soul is distracted from that which is sung by a chant that is employed for the purpose of giving pleasure [only]. But if the singer chant for the sake of devotion, he pays more attention to what he says, both because he lingers more thereon, and because, as Augustine remarks, “each affection of our spirit, according to its variety, has its own appropriate measure in the voice, and singing, by some hidden correspondence wherewith it is stirred.” The same applies to the hearers, for even if some of them understand not what is sung, yet they understand why it is sung, namely, for God’s glory: and this is enough to arouse their devotion.The soul is distracted from that which is sung by a chant that is employed for the purpose of giving pleasure [only]. But if the singer chant for the sake of devotion, he pays more attention to what he says, both because he lingers more thereon, and because, as Augustine remarks, “each affection of our spirit, according to its variety, has its own appropriate measure in the voice, and singing, by some hidden correspondence wherewith it is stirred.” The same applies to the hearers, for even if some of them understand not what is sung, yet they understand why it is sung, namely, for God’s glory: and this is enough to arouse their devotion."

- St. Thomas Aquinas

Quoted in a wonderful article by Peter Kwasniewsky at OnePeterFive [LINK].

Line-up for 19 March, Third Sunday of Lent

• Propers: Third Sunday of Lent [PDF]
• Mass Parts: Mass XI Orbis Factor
• Kyrie XI [PDF - Youtube - mp3]
• Credo III [PDF - mp3]
• Sanctus XI [PDF - mp3]
• Agnus Dei XI [PDF - mp3]
• Hymn after Offertory: Parce Domine [PDF - Youtube]
• Hymn after Communion: Te Joseph Celebrent [PDF - Youtube]
• Recessional: Antiphona ad Sancte Michael [PDF]
• [Subject to change]

Tuesday night 14 March practice: We'll go over the above, as well as next week's music. It is my understanding that Fr. Seiler will be preaching a parish mission next Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights, which will preclude our practicing on the 21st, so we need to go over the Fourth Sunday in Lent (the 26th) a bit more thoroughly than our usual quick preview. Also, Saturday 25 March is the Feast of the Assumption; we'll look at that as well for those who want to show up and help out at 08:00 Mass.

Interesting podcast

Launching on the Maccabee Society web page [LINK] is the new Deplorably Rigid Podcast, the first episode of which is largely about chant [LINK]. I've only listened to the first few minutes, but it sounds interesting -- and one of the messages is that you need not be a professionally trained musician to implement and provide liturgical chant in your parish. Which is a good thing.... 😄

FOLLOW-UP: I've now listened to the whole podcast. It's mainly about chant in an Anglican Ordinariate parish (Anglicans who have returned to the Catholic Church as a congregation under the provisions of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, established by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012 [LINK], being allowed to preserve many elements of Anglican tradition within a Catholic context), and is thus not as relevant to what we do as I had hoped. It is interesting nonetheless.

Just in case you were wondering....

... why the Tract for the First Sunday of Lent was so long. The blogger at Modern Medievalist has some good information, and a video of a schola doing the full Tract. Yes, it could have been longer! [LINK]

Line-Up for 12 March: Second Sunday of Lent

• Propers: Second Sunday of Lent [PDF]
• Mass Parts: Mass XI Orbis Factor
• Kyrie XI [PDF - Youtube - mp3]
• Credo III [PDF - mp3]
• Sanctus XI [PDF - mp3]
• Agnus Dei XI [PDF - mp3]
• Hymn after Offertory: Parce Domine [PDF - Youtube]
• Hymn after Communion: Te Joseph Celebrent [PDF - Youtube]
• Recessional: Antiphona ad Sancte Michael [PDF]

Tuesday night 07 March practice: We'll go over the above, as well as Monday 13 March, the Anniversary of the Election of the Holy Father, for those who want to show up and help out at 06:30 Mass. And, as usual, preview the next Sunday's propers.